NFL chiefs approve massive revamp to kickoff play

National Football League chiefs approved a massive revamp of the kickoff play today, opting, after 3 days of discussions at the NFL’s annual meeting, for a format that started in the XFL.

The proposal passed after 29 agreed and 3 disagreed, the league chairman Rich McKay revealed today. For the vote to be successful, you need at least 24 of 32 chiefs to vote in favor.

NFL owners approve massive revamp to kickoff play. They've adopted the XFL kickoff.

Here’s what the new NFL kickoff will look like this season: pic.twitter.com/ZX1CvtwRC6

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“We think this is a fantastic day for the National Football League,” the Saints coordinator Darren Rizzi, who was involved with the revamp, claimed today. “We have got a play that’s been dying over the course of the past few seasons, according to me, and we revived it.”

The new rule is the most significant on-field rule change for the league in seasons and is designed to reverse more than 10 years of declining return rates while also lowering concussion rates. The most important thing about the change is to minimize high-speed collisions.